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- [00:00]
Carvana Representative
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Lakshmi Singh
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. South Korean President Yoon Song Yeol says he will lift a martial law order after Parliament overwhelmingly voted against it. The declaration triggered a dramatic political standoff in the middle of the night in Seoul. Take Bull hard out. Massive crowds descended on the National Assembly Building in defiance of the martial law order. In Washington, meanwhile, the State Department says it is watching developments involving its key U.S. ally with grave concern. Here's NPR's Jackie Northam.
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Vidant Patel
State Department spokesman Vidant Patel says Biden administration officials are closely monitoring the situation in South Korea. Lawmakers there voted to rescind an emergency martial law declared earlier by President Yoon Song Yeol, who had accused some opposition members of aligning with North Korea's communist government. Patel says the US didn't know in advance of Yoon's announcement, but the alliance with South Korea is ironclad.
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Carvana Representative
There continues to be, in our point of view, a lot of important work that we want to continue to do with the Republic of Korea.
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Vidant Patel
Patel says the US Expects the situation will be resolved peacefully. Jackie Northam, NPR News.
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Lakshmi Singh
President elect Donald Trump's nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, returned to Capitol Hill today to secure Republican backing. A reporter asked the former Fox News host about women in combat after he wrote in a book that men and women should not serve together in combat units.
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Carvana Representative
How do you feel about the women in combat? We have amazing women who serve in our military, amazing women serving in combat.
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Jennifer Luttin
I think they're already in combat.
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Lakshmi Singh
The military veteran is expected to face confirmation scrutiny over allegations of rape, reports of infidelity and his stance on women in combat. The number of people struggling to cover their housing costs in the United States has reached a new record high. NPR's Jennifer Ludd reports. Prices have spiked in recent years, and that's hitting both renters and homeowners hard.
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Jennifer Luttin
Nearly 43 million households paid more than a third of their income for housing last year, and for about half of them, it was more than 50%. That's according to an analysis of new census data by Harvard's Joint center for Housing Studies. Renters are far more likely to struggle, but the biggest uptick was actually among homeowners. Harvard researchers say a growing number of older people have retired or cut back on work, lowering their income just as housing costs have spiked. And even if they've paid off, a mortgage, insurance and property taxes have also shot up since 2019. Harvard finds that housing costs have risen faster than wages for both renters and owners. Jennifer Luttin, NPR News, Washington.
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Lakshmi Singh
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 76 points at last check at 44,705. This is NPR News. Electric vehicle batteries sometimes catch fire. Reporter Ari Daniels reports that the US Department of Energy recently gave a 670 million doll loan to a company making a material to keep such fires contained.
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Ari Daniel
The substance is super porous, and it's called an aerogel. It's absorbed by fibrous material, which is then wrapped around the lithium ion cells inside certain vehicles. The secret of our material is that it's passing the energy on very slowly. George Gould is chief technology officer with Aspen Aerogels, the company that received the federal loan. He's observing a demo. A jet of fire erupts towards the aerogel but does nothing to it. Right after the flames killed Gould touches the material, it's completely intact and just warm. It's like magic. It's worth noting that a lithium ion battery is way less likely to ignite than a combustion engine. For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel.
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Lakshmi Singh
Alaska Airlines is blaming an unspecified technology disruption for the temporary grounding of flights in Seattle yesterday morning. In a statement, the carrier says its operation was significantly affected, including delayed flights. Alaska Airlines is still experiencing problems with online reservations. This comes more than two months after the carrier experienced what it described as significant tech related disruptions that grounded flights in Seattle. The Nasdaq has closed up 76 points, the S&P was up 2, and the Dow has closed down 76 points. This is NPR.
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Carvana Representative
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